BW inverts

Sarra

AC Members
Dec 8, 2007
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I made an impulse buy of a pair of Red Clawed Crabs. Seeing how I had a bumble bee goby as well, I decided to switch my 10 gallon tank over to BW.

now, I have 2 Red Claw crab, and 3 bumble bee goby in a 10 gallon that I'm slowly bringing up to brackish levels. I've got a FW water quality test kit, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, PH, and high level PH. Will this kit work with brackish water? I've also got a hydrometer that goes from a specific gravity of 1.0 to 1.045.

So, for some questions. What kind of crabs can I keep in a BW tank? I'm planning on ultimately going to a larger tank, but I do have a bit of a room problem; I've got 3 terrariums and two aquariums already (2 Exoterra glass terrariums, a 10 gallon terrarium, a 10 gallon aquarium, and a 5.5 gallon aquarium).

I've got a kuhli loach, a black one, that hasn't been very black. It's turned white or clear, or blood red, and has been looking sick. Until I started adding sea salt to the tank, now it's looking a healthy black color. Will this guy survive BW, or should I transplant it him over to my 5.5 FW aquarium? Same deal with my clown loach, has looked like crap, started getting the specific gravity up around 1.004-1.006 and it looks better.

And last question, if I picked up one of the fiddler crabs a local petstore has (well, I'd be rescuing them form certain death, actually), would they kill/eat my red clawed crabs?
 
loaches are supposed to be very non-tolerant of salt. I bet that the aquarium salt is killing off some kind of parasite or fungus that your fish had and that is why he seems better, not due to the salt directly.

Most fiddler crabs require alot of land area. They spend half of their time on land. they need the air to help harden their shell. i have heard that Gold Fiddler Crabs and Red Clawed crabs are the only aquarium crabs that are fully aquatic but I don't know much about the gold fiddler. Red Clawed's are supposed to be pretty aggressive in general, so i would worry about the fiddler more then the red clawed.

the only difference between a freshwater and saltwater kit is the pH test so if you have a high range pH test, you will be fine. your hydrometer sounds find too. Hydrometers aren't real accurate but they are good enough for brackish water - brackish species generally handle a wide range of salinity as the salinity in the wild changes as the tide comes in and out, and under extreme weather conditions.
 
Hi i keep red clawed crabs. I personally don't think that they are fully aquatic crabs. My 20 gallon tank is 3/4's full with water, with plants n ornaments that stick out of the water. The crabs spend most of the daytime out of the water sunning themselves. And most of lights out time in the water scavenging for food. Do you know the sex of your crabs. I only have problems with aggression when my 2 males fight over food. I keep keep them in a planted tank which they destroy and uproot almost every night.
 
Either the fiddler or red claw are aquatic, and both will spend the majority of their time out of the water.
 
Okay, I'll transplant my loaches then. :) Thanks for that, it was exactly what I needed.

One of my red Clawed crabs has taken up residence on a piece of cork bark that's floating in the tank. They are very young, though, and spend most of their time under water.

I'm going to look for an aquarium stand that will work on carpet and get a 27 long, then, and do a semi-aquatic brackish water setup for a fiddler crab.

I believe my two red clawed crabs are both male, but one hides under a piece of wood and won't show it's claws.
 
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